I really like the hip movement one where you lie flat on your back, put a band or a belt around your foot while it's raised straight up in the air, and then slowly lower it out to the side, using your hip muscles to make the unnatural movement. You have to try and keep your hips flat on the floor and your spine straight/neutral so you aren't twisting. I would have described myself as being fairly mobile, but I am rapidly discovering that my limbs are not as limber as I would have thought. I have a lot of difficulty raising my leg straight up with a straight knee and the other leg also straight and flat on the floor with toes pointed straight skyward. I cannot get very high and I feel it stretching all along the back of my leg (also a good thing). It doesn't "hurt", I can just feel it stretching and know that it's a good thing. Not so fond of using the foam roller to roll out the groin area (which really just tells me that I have a lot of tight muscles in there to the point that it's really not comfortable, i.e. I need to do this more!). I know why they say it is important to be aware of your body and your own limitations when doing Yoga - there are a million ways you could really hurt yourself by trying to push something farther than your body wants to let it go. Know your limits and respect them - work on them to increase your flexibility gradually. For instance with that stretch: I had a band around my foot helping me to raise my leg while keeping them both straight, I could've used brute force and hauled back on my leg, damaging something as I forced it past it's point of mobility. You cannot go from couch potato to marathon runner in a couple of weeks - these things take time with gradual progressions. When I see stories of people who do just that - sloth to superstar in a short period of time - I often wonder what details of the story we are not getting? Maybe they're really young? Maybe they used to be a marathon runner and they've just returned to a previous "fit" so it's not as hard? Who knows, but couch potato to marathon runner is way too ambitious. Foolhardy, even.
Overall, it was good. I am really going to be sad to not be able to come to the two male instructors' classes anymore once I go back to school next week. I can get in one more Monday on the holiday with this instructor (and can probably continue to go to his classes on any holidays/vacation) but I am probably done with the other instructor until next summer (and maybe Christmas Break - but I doubt it since Boxing Day is on the Wednesday). I really don't want to be sexist at all, but I find I really enjoy the classes with the two male instructors more than the women, and it's not because I'm checking them out. They are doing the activity with us to demonstrate, usually in the middle of the room so everyone can see, and they are taking the time to circulate and watch how each (or at least most) of us are doing the stretches and making little tweaks here and there. Today, he kept checking in on my mom and modifying what she should do so she didn't strain herself. Like when we all stood up to test our balance after one leg stretch, he told her to just stay on the ground because we'd be right back (it takes her a lot of effort to get up off the floor), and on another he told her not to try and do the stretch with the block under her back, just stay flat on the ground to simplify. They are just little things, but he took the time to let her know in advance, instead of watching her struggle to then say 'oh here, try this'. She may even be impressed enough to get a membership just to come and see him. He also came over and scolded me (jokingly) for having my shoulder blade off the ground on a stretch we were doing. I find the female instructors don't circulate the room in the same manner at all. There is no individual "tweaking" going on. It's not as personalized. And you know, I know they don't have to do it, but it really makes a difference. I worry less that I am going to do something wrong or hurt myself.
Next up, was the class the focused on shoulders. Holy Wow that was rough!
Lots of good points; I've mentioned that grinding feeling in my shoulder previously on here and we did a rolling exercise with the ball that completely hit where that feeling was - and I wasn't moving my arm, so I know it's not bone-on-bone. Basically, you take the Alpha ball (you could use the regular balls) and put it against the wall, and then you roll it over the upper tip of the shoulder blade near the neck (on your back, obviously). You are going across the muscle. He described it as the "rice krispies" area, which totally nailed that "popping/grinding" feeling. Yay me! It's not going to be pretty tonight. I worked the heck out of that area, knowing it was super tight and super irritated. I may even do some more later tonight just to work on that. Then they progressed to rolling it up the neck (a.k.a. along the muscle instead of across it) but I found this awkward and just stuck with my rice krispies.
He had us lay down on the ground and roll out our spines by doing back bends (neck supported!) over the roller and stretching out our spine. I feel like I've done this before with not much problem, but today was brutal. It was intensely painful, and I had a hard time getting my back to relax enough that I could do any sort of bends. I felt like I was really trying to force myself to bend back even a little bit. I'm not sure why it was so painful/stiff, and if that was just temporary, or something I'd never tried/realized that has been there all along? I am really tempted to go and get a roller and do that one more at home. It hurt. I was definitely aware that I could not do that stretch, today I just did not have the mobility to make it happen.
After that we were going to use the roller on the muscle under our armpit working it back and forth, but he suggested that anyone who found it too painful could do another activity standing up which he would show us. I didn't even hesitate, I was up on my feet in an instant. Which ended up being a good thing, because once two or three people saw me standing up and being explained what to do, they joined me. We raised our arm and put the Alpha ball just under the armpit and rolled the ball along that muscle down the side. I didn't even try the roller, my back had hurt way too much. When I do any and all of these stretches my face is usually pretty neutral (I worry I may even look bored - at least it's not my usual Resting Bitch Face); I've had people comment that I look so relaxed (again, high pain tolerance - I can feel it working and hurting, but not enough that it's causing me any serious grief). And anytime the instructors comment about how they can see people scrunching up their faces and reminding us to relax our jaw muscles, it's never me that's tense. My face must've shown a dozen-different pain-stricken visages with the roll on my spine, because when he suggested the standing up option he was looking right at me. He knew. There was no way I was trying this laying down. And this wasn't like the typical elderly folks groaning and grunting as they work muscles that are stiff, this was borderline agony. The next stretch would be far, far worse. With this one under the armpit, I think I want to compare it to labour during child-birthing. Labour might have been easier (no major drugs). I don't think I've ever experienced this before: you know that white-hot pain where you see white at the edges of your vision? I felt like I was going to throw up. I contemplated making a comment like "This hurts so much I feel like I want to throw up", but I knew he would just tell me to stop, and I could tell I was in the right spot. Apparently, I've never tried to work that muscle before. The left side was a million times better than the right; the right I wanted to pass out, vomit, or both. The black started creeping in around the edges of my vision and replacing the white at one point. We only rolled it for 2, maybe 3 minutes before changing sides. The left just a "normal" this hurts.
Strangely enough, it is not that muscle that I can still feel throbbing this afternoon; it's the rice krispie one over/under my shoulder blade. I should probably try to roll both of them out again today.
It was a really good class. He teaches three back to back classes on Mondays; YTU Hips, what was listed as just "Yoga Tune-Up", and YTU Core. I did not realize that the second class focused on Shoulders, or I probably would've been there from Day 1, especially knowing that's what I need to work on. And especially with all of my forays into "hey, you all want to work on neck and shoulders? Perfect! Let's do Feet!" (yes, I realize they are all connected and your feet impact your back etc., but it felt like I was doing feet every time and I really wanted to work on neck/shoulders). I am certainly going back to the Shoulders class next Monday. I may try to do Shoulders and then Core afterwards. I've been to the Core and the Hips both before, but this was my first Shoulders.
Wow.
Just Wow.
It's really too bad he doesn't teach evenings. I am a major fan.
I'll let you know how I feel tomorrow and whether I'm still a #1 fan, or just a crying baby. And tomorrow's my last training session. Yikes.
No comments:
Post a Comment